


Count Your Stars (They're all Lucky in the Sky)

by lost_decade



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Autumn, Banter, Complicated Relationships, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-25 03:23:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12521848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_decade/pseuds/lost_decade
Summary: “So what happens now, we tell ghost stories?” Nico asks when the fire is lit and they’re all sat around it, passing the bottle back and forth. He can’t deny it feels nice, the solitude, just the three of them and no one else around for miles. He can’t remember a time when they’ve ever been in that position before.





	Count Your Stars (They're all Lucky in the Sky)

**Author's Note:**

> Kind of AU – Lewis is still Lewis, Jenson is his former race engineer and Nico is a pundit for Sky F1.

“You guys know I can’t have that, right?” Lewis says, eyeing the mug of rich hot chocolate, several pink marshmallows dotted around the saucer. 

“It’s vegan. I brought it all the way from this health food shop in L.A. And Nico’ll eat the marshmallows. Won’t you?” 

Nico shrugs, looking up from where he’s sitting at the window seat, the twilit sky casting an ethereal glow over the fields beyond. “I’ll eat the marshmallows. No need for you to worry about putting on weight or losing any moral high ground.”

Lewis rolls his eyes as Nico wanders over and reaches for one of the marshmallows, dipping it into the hot chocolate before popping it into his mouth. Lewis wonders to himself when Nico became so irritating, or whether he always has been but it’s just taken half a lifetime to notice. “I’m not kissing you for at least an hour now, you do realise this, man.” Lewis says to him. 

Nico just shrugs again and smiles and Lewis remembers that yes of course, Nico has always thought that denial makes the reward so much sweeter. Lewis isn’t on that page, not at all. 

“Kiss Jense instead then,” Nico suggests, leaning against the side of the kitchen counter and looking between Jenson and Lewis and then back again, as if he’s bored and waiting to be entertained, having flown to windy, chilly England to celebrate a historic event that has absolutely no significance to him whatsoever. 

“You should’ve come for Halloween,” Jenson says when Nico voices this. 

“I have children. And anyway, Lewis was in New York dressed as a sparkly wizard.”   

“That was a great costume. You can’t deny that looked amazing.” Lewis says, taking a sip of the hot chocolate and making a pleased face. It actually tastes wonderful. 

“Think he prefers you in your birthday suit, mate,” Jenson replies, crowding close to Lewis and slipping a finger beneath his chin. “Can’t say I blame him,” he continues, pressing his lips against Lewis’. He tastes sweet and warm, the perfect antidote to a cold day. Lewis wraps his arms around Jenson, pulling him closer so their bodies are flush together as they kiss languidly. 

Nico watches them, appreciative of the way Lewis gives himself so eagerly, tilting his head as Jenson’s fingers stroke down his jawline to caress his neck. They’re gorgeous together and for all Nico’s grumbling about coming to England this weekend, in reality he was never going to turn this opportunity down when Jenson suggested it. 

He steps close to them both, sliding a hand under Lewis’ cosy knitted jumper and across his back. “Cold hands,” Lewis yelps, breaking the kiss. 

“You’ll have to warm them up,” Nico replies, reaching to tweak one of Lewis’ nipples, making a small hum of approval at the sensation of it hardening beneath his fingers. “Still don't want to kiss me?” Nico asks, licking his lips. “Maybe Jense does…” He turns to Jenson, who is more than happy to oblige, sliding his tongue into Nico’s mouth with no preamble. 

Nico can taste the sweetness of the hot chocolate from Lewis’ mouth on Jenson’s tongue and he makes a soft little noise of approval with the realisation as much as with the sensation of Lewis’ lips at his neck, mouthing over the sensitive skin. 

“Yes okay, I want to kiss you,” Lewis tugs at Nico’s arm, pulling him near and pressing their lips together gently. 

Kissing Lewis is always different to kissing Jenson. There's a seriousness to it, an echo of the days when they were teenagers learning each other for the first time, before Formula One and Television, before Jenson became part of what they have. In the beginning it was just the two of them. Nico finds himself thinking sometimes about what would've happened if he'd taken a different path, carried on racing instead of giving it up for a career talking about the sport instead. Would they have made it as Formula One teammates like they'd once dreamed of? Would Lewis have ever let him kiss him on the podium?

Sometimes it feels like the higher Lewis’ star rises the further away he slips. 

He cradles Nico's head in his hands so tenderly now though as their tongues slide together, catching Nico's lower lip gently beneath his teeth for a moment before drawing back. Jenson wishes not for the first time that they'd let him photograph moments like this, but the risk is too high for both of them. It's a good job he has an excellent memory filled with perfect wank material really. 

“We should take the dogs out before it gets too dark,” Jenson says somewhat regretfully. “You should probably get changed too.” 

“Me, why?” Lewis asks, frowning as he looks down at his outfit. The white jeans cling to him in all the right places and his tartan Balmain jumper is perfect for the time of year. 

“We’re walking across a field, white is maybe not the best colour.”    
  


***

“He can be such a diva sometimes,” Nico whispers to Jenson when they eventually make it outside, Lewis running ahead of them now with Roscoe, Coco and Bailey, having taken considerably longer than expected to change. 

“So can you, _ Mr Prettiest Reporter in the Paddock _ .” Jenson reaches for Nico’s hand, linking their fingers together. The path is littered with leaves, crisp beneath their feet as they walk away from the grandeur of the farmhouse. Nico huffs, breath clouding the air as he turns to frown at Jenson. 

“What? It’s true, you're both as bad as each other. That’s why you need me in the middle. Or on top, I’m not fussy. He’s lonely you know, without us together the way we used to be.” 

“He said that?” 

“He didn’t need to. When I mentioned this weekend he jumped at the chance, cancelled some event in Barbados he was meant to go to. He misses you. And me, obviously.” 

“Obviously.” Nico watches fondly as Lewis throws a stick ahead of him, Bailey bounding back with it as the bulldogs remain mostly disinterested. “He barely spoke to me at the last race.” 

“Are you guys talking about me?” Lewis asks, wresting the stick free from Bailey’s grasp and walking back to join them, the three of them falling into step. 

“I was just saying we don’t see each other much anymore at races,” Nico says. “I’m starting to think you prefer Mark Webber to me. Martin’s devastated you know, he’s your biggest fan in the paddock. But if you prefer Channel 4 that’s fine, I get plenty of interviews out of Red Bull.” 

“Wasn’t sure you wanted to interview me anymore, man. Last I saw you at the weekend you and Arrivabene looked very cosy, chatting away in Italian.” 

Nico giggles because honestly, Lewis’ little insecurities are so obvious sometimes and also incredibly endearing. “I was telling him how high-pitched you scream when you’re getting a rim job,” he replies, nonchalantly and to Lewis’ embarrassment. 

“Don’t even joke about it, if anyone ever knew…” 

“No one’s going to know, Lewis,” Jenson cuts in. “That’s why we’re here, enjoying the joys of the English countryside by ourselves rather than having to be quiet in a hotel room after a race.” 

“Yeah, fair enough. You do have some good ideas occasionally,” he smiles. “And uh, am I really that loud?” 

“Yep,” Nico says with delight, slipping an arm around Lewis and grabbing his arse. “Maybe we can try and make you scream the place down later.” 

Lewis breathes in sharply as Nico sweeps his tongue ever so slowly across his bottom lip. “Remind me again why we’re outside and not in that massive bed back in the house.”

“Because,” says Jenson, “it’s bonfire night and we’re going to sit around the fire and have a drink and tell stories like I used to when I was a kid. Indulge me.” 

They walk the dogs a little further before looping back round to the beautiful sixteenth century farmhouse, locking the dogs safely indoors and fussing over them for a few minutes. Jenson folds a couple of blankets into a rucksack along with a bottle of whiskey and passes out a collapsible camping chair for each of them. Night has fallen when they step back outside, sky rapidly fading from silvery grey into darkness, stars coming out across the horizon. 

L.A. is nice and everything, the beach and the weather, but sometimes Jenson longs for Somerset, for the England of his childhood when his dad was still alive. He wants to share this place with the people he loves. He wants more than just the odd stolen weekend. But logistics are a bitch and since he decided to quit his job he’s realising more and more just how much he misses the chance to be with Nico and Lewis, misses the bond he had with Lewis when they were a team, driver and engineer in perfect sync; misses exploring new cities with Nico, the two of them so often having dinner together on a Saturday evening after qualy in some cosy restaurant away from prying eyes. He’d left F1 because he wanted a bit more stability, wanted to be in one place for a while. Missing them this much isn’t something he’d really accounted for.

***

The bonfire is set up in the next field along from the house, stacked up with planks of wood and old furniture that Jenson had set aside with this very idea in mind when he’d had the place renovated. 

“So what happens now, we tell ghost stories?” Nico asks when the fire is lit and they’re all sat around it, passing the bottle back and forth. He can’t deny it feels nice, the solitude, just the three of them and no one else around for miles. He can’t remember a time when they’ve ever been in that position before. The firelight dances over Lewis’ face. He looks so young, Nico thinks, so natural with a few curls escaping the beanie he’s wearing. He just looks like Lewis, not the world champion and celebrity that Nico has started to think of him as recently. He wonders how Jenson truly feels about him now, if the two of them confide in each other much anymore. 

“Ghost stories, dirty stories, whatever you want.” Jenson pokes at the fire a bit, eliciting a pleasing pop and crackle. “I could tell you about the time I was all set to shag Angela Clark in the graveyard at the end of that road until she saw an apparition of a dead child peeking around one of the graves. She split up with me because I didn’t believe her.” 

“Why didn’t you believe her?” 

“Lewis, come on. It was her little sister pissing around.” 

“Or maybe there’s a ghost in your hometown that wants to prevent you from having sex,” Nico laughs. 

“It’s not going to be preventing me tonight I can promise you.”

“Well I have a story, a proper story. So my Finnish grandma told me this story when I was a kid, about why she hated water. She used to come visit us in the summer and no matter how hot it was she would never go into the pool or the ocean. Never. So one time I asked her why.” Nico shifts his chair closer to Jenson’s, reaching out and placing his hand on the older man’s thigh comfortably. “And she told me it was because in the 1920s one of her mum’s friends was taken by a creature called a Näkki.” He pauses for dramatic effect, looking away from the mesmeric motion of the flames and glancing between Lewis and Jenson, who are both watching him, wrapt. 

“So one Midsummer night everyone in the village was out celebrating the festival, and obviously it stays light for a really long time. So the story goes that my great, great grandmother’s friend came running up to her that night and told her she had to come and hear this music that was coming from the lake. When they got there, the friend’s cousin who’d been waiting by the edge of the water was nowhere to be seen and there was this beautiful man standing in the water playing a violin. Like this glowing, gorgeous long-haired figure who just smiled at them and then vanished. And they found the girl the next day at the bottom of the lake.” 

“Shit, man.” 

“I know,” Nico says, turning to Lewis at his other side. “I mean for sure it’s bullshit but my grandma  _ really _ believed in this thing. Wouldn’t go anywhere near the water, ever.” 

“Didn’t freak you out though? Damn I wish I'd known this when we were kids, I could've learned the violin and used it to spook you.” 

“I'm now very glad I didn't share this with you, Lewis.”

“Really it’s nothing compared with some of the stuff my grandad in Grenada used to tell me. Some proper fucked up voodoo shit.” 

“The caretaker at my school murdered his predecessor,” Jenson pipes up. “That was the rumour anyway for years. He stabbed the guy and then buried him under the music block. When no one was around you could hear his ghost dragging himself across the floor, keys jangling on his belt.” 

“Yeah sure, Jense, that’s a thing that really happened.” 

“It might have. More likely than the fit water nymph with the violin.” 

Nico pulls a face, he’s actually always quite liked the Näkki story. 

The fire dwindles, the contents of the bottle draining down with it. “I didn't just rent this place for the weekend,” Jenson says after they've fallen silent. “I bought it. For us. I thought we might come here whenever we can. All of us, or just a couple of us. Whoever's free at the same time or whatever. So we can spend more time together” 

“Getting sentimental in your old age, Jenson?” Lewis teases. 

“Always have been, mate.”

“I’m filming for a new show in London in the winter break,” Nico says. “I could drive out here on the weekend…” 

“I could be in England for a bit over the winter too.” Lewis adds, “I mean I’ll be here seeing the family so I could always stay a bit longer, if you’ll be here.” He glances at Nico almost shyly. 

“Great! Hang on, let me get the popcorn out. The fireworks’ll be starting soon.” Jenson passes the bag around, spreading out the blanket so they each have a bit to cover them as the fire dies out, embers sparking in the night air. The sky becomes aglow with colour shortly after, soft bangs echoing across the fields as the firework display begins a couple of miles away. Lewis shifts his chair closer to Nico’s, resting his head on the blond’s shoulder as they stare up at the bursts of colour. It reminds Lewis of so many of the wins he’s had, fireworks lighting up the night as he’s crossed the finish line in Abu Dhabi and then hugging Jenson and Nico afterwards, the three of them and their secret. 

When it’s over and the air is still heavy with smoke and the rich, crisp woody smell that always seems to permeate the atmosphere at this time of year, they kick out the remnants of the fire and gather their things together. Lewis isn’t used to drinking much these days and he feels the warmth of the whiskey settling in his blood, loosening his usually tightly controlled thoughts. 

“It’s not the same without you,” he whispers to Jenson as they walk side by side. “I hate that it’s not your voice on the radio. I don’t know, man. It doesn’t feel right.” 

“Bono’s a good guy. A great engineer.”

“Yeah, he’s not you though.” 

Jenson stops, turning to Lewis and pressing a kiss to his lips. “I’m still here, I’m still yours.” 

***

“You two go shower and make yourselves comfortable,” Jenson suggests when they get back to the house, pointing them through to the lounge. “You stink of bonfire. I’ll bring some drinks in.” He busies himself trying to work the oven and arranging things on a tray, glad he’d had the foresight to get a chef in to prepare some snacks for them the night before. When he walks through into the lounge, ducking to avoid the low beam that covers the door, he smiles at the sight that awaits him. The fire has been lit and they’ve moved some of the sofa cushions onto the thick-piled rug in front of it. 

Already Nico is shirtless, lying back into the soft cushions and lifting his hips for Lewis to slide off the sweatpants he’d changed into. Jenson places the tray down on the table, feeling all the blood in his body rushing south as he watches them move against each other, their kisses heated and urgent. 

“I think after your comment earlier I’d like to be the one making you scream,” Lewis says casually removing the bathrobe he’s wearing and straddling the blond, pinning his hands above his head. Nico’s pupils are blown, Lewis notices as he looks down into his eyes. Maybe he should take control more often. “You want that?” 

Nico tries to think of a sarcastic response but Lewis grinds down on him and all Nico can think is that it’s been so long, so so long since he’s had Lewis’ fingers, his tongue, his dick inside him. It’s all become so fractious since he married Vivi and the girls came along. “Yes,” he murmurs, “fuck…yes.” 

Lewis grins and it’s supposed to be gleeful, like he’s got the upper hand, but really all he can think of is the memory of how Nico looks when he’s being fucked, how beautiful he is when his mouth falls open in pleasure and he scrunches his nose when he’s about to come in the same way he does when he’s really properly laughing at something – something that Lewis has never mentioned because he knows Nico would get self-conscious about it. Lewis kisses him again, running his fingers over Nico’s cheeks, flushed from the cold outside and the warmth of the fire and the burning arousal that seems to cloak the room, before turning him over onto his stomach, pushing some pillows beneath his hips. He looks up, making eye contact with Jenson who grins filthily at him, holding his gaze as he kisses he way down Nico’s back before spreading him open.

“Hold him down for me, Jense, you know how he can squirm.” 

***

The first thing Jenson becomes aware of when he wakes up is the cold foot that’s pressed up against his calf and the warm body in his arms. He opens his eyes, blinking a few times before it hits him where he is and who he’s with, comfortably sandwiched in between Nico and Lewis. Mostly comfortably - Nico is kind of elbowing him in the ribs a bit and Lewis’ morning erection is solid against his lower back, which really Jenson isn’t complaining about, it just makes going back to sleep kind of impossible. 

“We forgot to eat,” Nico murmurs, stroking his fingers down Jenson’s arm. Jenson also wouldn’t mind some tea and breakfast, or what was supposed to constitute dinner from the night before. 

“I guess we were a bit preoccupied. You were kind of responsible for that you know.”

“I’m with Jense on that one,” Lewis says sleepily, trying to cuddle both of them at once and not quite managing it. It’s tough trying to be the big spoon when you’re the shortest of three people. “I should take the dogs out so uh, I’ll take Bailey too if you want? I’ll make some tea first.” 

Nico shifts and turns around so he can see the two of them, almost head-butting Jenson in the process. “Yeah great.” 

Jenson gives him a look that speaks volumes. “I could come with you, if you want…” Nico adds, hastily, to which Lewis breaks into a smile, getting out of bed and heading towards the en-suite. “Jense?” 

“You two go. I’ll have some food ready for when you get back. I was thinking about later, there's some bikes in the shed, we could cycle into Lower Vobster, show you some of my old haunts.”

“Or we could drive there instead,” Nico suggests, raising his eyebrows at Jenson as he pulls on his clothes. He feels tired and a little sore, unused to having them both inside him at the same time, but it’s not a bad feeling, not a bad feeling at all. 

“Yeah we could do that. Or I guess I could cycle and let you two take the F40 for a spin, as I’m feeling generous.” He catches Nico’s wrist, drawing him near for a tender kiss. “Don’t kill each other for the next half hour yeah, for some crazy reason I happen to be quite fond of you both.”

***

Jenson stands at the kitchen window, sipping his mug of tea and watching out of the window as the two of them walk over the fields, hand in hand. 

They’re all going to be just fine, he decides. 

  
  
  



End file.
